How to Have A Cool Family Sukkot

by Meryl Greenwald Gordon

Sukkot is one of
those holidays that at first
might seem daunting. You
need to build and decorate
a temporary building. You
need to order a lulav and
etrog. You need food. But you shouldn't
allow all that to get in the way of enjoying
one of our most joyous holidays with all
of its rich traditions. Here are some simple
guidelines for your family's enjoyment.

Get a sukkah onto your deck, porch or patio

If your family includes a creative buildertype,
he or she can build one out of plywood
and two-by-fours. Only three walls are
required – and the side of your house can
count as one – but four walls will be cozier,
especially in less than ideal weather. And you'll
need an open roof with slats or poles to hold
up natural materials like pine branches or
bamboo sticks. The roof should be somewhat
open so you can see the stars.

The easier way to do this is to buy a
prefab sukkah, available in many Judaic
stores or online at websites such as
www.sukkot.com, which advertises The
Sukkah Project – Affordable Klutz-Proof
Sukkah Kits.

Then put in picnic tables and benches,
or folding tables and chairs, and perhaps
space-heaters or citronella candles, depending
on weather and mosquito conditions.

Get creative and decorate

My kids used to love to string cranberries
and hang mini-pumpkins and multi-colored
gourds and Indian corn. Then one night
the raccoons found our sukkah. So we
switched to stringing colorful beads and hanging
plastic fruit and metallic Thanksgiving
decorations that work beautifully, depending
on your locale and local critters. Also hang
Rosh Hashanah cards and your kids' or grandkids'
or neighbor's kids' artwork.

Invite lots of guests

This is what makes this holiday so much
fun – good old-fashioned face-to-face interaction,
talking and eating, with young and
old and in-between, for seven nights. Invite
your family. Invite the neighbors. Invite
friends and invite people who would be
grateful for a change of pace and a night out.

Also invite some invisible, imaginary guests.
It's a kabbalistic tradition dating from the
Middle Ages to invite ushpizin (Aramaic for
guests). The souls of these seven exalted guests
are invited to descend from the heavenly Garden
of Eden to join the sukkah meal. Invite
our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and
Moses and his brother, Aaron, and Joseph (of
many-colored-coat fame), and King David.
You can buy a poster of the ushpizin to hang
on a sukkah wall, which will include the
traditional formula for inviting them in:

I invite to my meal the exalted guests: Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and
David. May it please you, (whichever guest's
turn it is), my exalted guest, that all the other
exalted guests dwell here with me and with
you.

If you'd like to be innovative and egalitarian,
invite the seven prophetesses of Israel
as suggested by medieval Italian kabbalist
Menachem Azariah of Fano (so it's really not
that new). Call them ushpizot. You can find
a poster, designed by Suri Edell Greenberg
at www.ushpizot.org. They are our foremother
Sarah, wife of Abraham; Miriam,
sister of Moses; Deborah, one of the judges
of ancient Israel; Hannah, mother of Samuel,
whose story we read every Yom Kippur;
the shrewd and courageous Abigail, a wife
of King David; Hulda, a prophetess respected
for her wisdom; and Queen Esther of the
Purim story. Do some research and teach
your daughters and granddaughters about
these biblical role models. Women's League
for Conservative Judaism has more information
on its website at www.wlcj.org.

In kabbalistic thought, each of the ushpizin
or ushpizot embodies a particular character
trait that represents a spiritual aspect of
God. Each night, one is singled out and honored
as representing the spiritual aspect of
that night. Abraham and Sarah represent
chesed (lovingkindness). Isaac/Miriam represent
gevurah (inner strength). Jacob/Deborah
are tiferet (splendor), Moses/Hannah
netzach (eternity), Aaron/Abigail, hod (glory),
Joseph/Hulda, yesod (foundation), and
King David/Queen Esther are malchut
(kingship).

Have lots of food

It's usually pretty cold in our sukkah at
night, so we start with hot soup and end
with hot tea; what comes in between varies.
You can cook every day, cook and freeze
ahead of time, do pot-luck with your guests,
take-out, or just order some pizza for Pizza
in the Hut.

Shave – I mean sit – in the sukkah

The biblical commandment is to sit (shev
in Hebrew, but my kids liked the joke of
saying "shave") in the sukkah, and the special
Sukkot blessing is "Blessed are you, Lord
our God, Sovereign of the Universe, who
has commanded us to sit in the sukkah."
So sit, and look up at the stars peeking
through the branches of the roof. Enjoy the
opportunity to put aside the digital world and
spend an evening outdoors, with good food,
good conversation and good company.

Meryl Greenwald Gordon, a computer programmer/analyst, co-founded and co-ran an after-school Hebrew high school and a Shabbat morning chavurah. She is a member of Beth El Synagogue in New Rochelle, New York.